1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a camera having a safety locking mechanism of a film cartridge chamber cover (hereinafter referred to as a cartridge cover). More particularly, the present invention relates to the camera having the safety locking mechanism which is of a type using a film cartridge so constructed that a film thereof is fed out by a thrust mechanism inside a body of the camera.
2. Description of the Related Arts
Generally, a camera has a locking mechanism for locking a cartridge cover relative to a camera body. The locking mechanism keeps the cartridge cover closed after a film cartridge is loaded into the camera body, thus preventing the cartridge cover from being carelessly opened. A user can open the cartridge cover by manually operating an unlocking operation member for releasing the locking mechanism when the user desires to take out the film cartridge from the camera body.
If the user carelessly opens the cartridge cover with the film being out from the film cartridge which is set inside the camera body, a part of the film is exposed to light, and the valuable film already photographed may become useless. In order to avoid such a problem, there has been conventionally provided a locking mechanism (namely, a safety locking mechanism) which has a safety mechanism section for preventing the cartridge cover from being unlocked even though the user operates the unlocking operation member under such a situation in which the film is pulled out from the film cartridge which is set in the camera body.
On the other hand, as a camera system for facilitating miniaturization of a camera and for making loading of the film easy, there has been proposed a camera system using a film cartridge which is of a type in which the film is fed out by a thrust mechanism mounted on a side of a camera body. This type of film cartridge is so constructed that the film is accommodated inside the film cartridge up to a leader of the film therein when it is not loaded inside the camera body, and that the film is fed out from the film cartridge and is wound around a winding spool by a film feeding mechanism of the camera, once it is loaded inside the camera body.
As a safety locking mechanism of the camera using this type of film cartridge, a mechanism, for example, which is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,481,325, has been known. This safety locking mechanism is arranged on a bottom part, beside the cartridge chamber, of the camera body. Generally, this location of the safety locking mechanism corresponds to a location which is to be occupied by various mechanisms such as a transmission mechanism for winding and rewinding the film, a lens driving mechanism, and a shutter driving mechanism. Therefore, a more preferable location of the safety locking mechanism is desired in view of the miniaturization, of the camera, which is realized by saving a space inside the camera body, or in view of increase in degree of freedom for designing the camera.
Needless to say, the safety mechanism section of the safety locking mechanism should operate automatically, independent of the user's intention. Therefore, there is a need of contriving how a driving force should be transmitted to the safety mechanism section, including a consideration of its location.